Hundreds of female figurines surround the gallery space, as one-off pieces by jeweler Sharon Leshem Morad. In the last decade she has been dedicated to the prehistoric figurine, known in human culture for hundreds of thousands of years. Sharon creates a figurine form as a daily, repetitive, almost involuntary action. She acts intuitively but puts forward a comprehensive study that challenges material and form, image and experience. In the last two years, she started to work with sourdough in addition to her work in metal. Every time she bakes bread at home, she sets aside dough for a figurine, a tithe for the holy work she has undertaken.

The female figurine is an archaeological object, crafted by Sharon using ancient materials (silver, gold, flour, water and scarlet-like thread). Jewellery making, baking and sewing are also ancient crafts, whose work practice has not changed almost at all to this day. Time is also a main element in the actual process of making the figurines, both due to the individual handwork and due to the time in the oven (for baking, casting or enameling purposes). Time is a material in this exhibition, which sends roots to the past and asks us to linger in the present.

Each figurine in the exhibition is different and each one is unique. Some are thin and tall like the artist, others plump like the archaeological source; some have wings and fly and some are tied and bound; some have stretched fingers and some had their arms amputated; some imitate images from modern art, while others disrupt familiar patterns. Sharon presents a wild, carnivalesque female cosmos, captivating and compassionate. The space-time continuum creates a sense of a tribal presence, material, present and strong.

The repetitive act of the body of work is like the rhythm of breathing. It is an action of pulse and rest, of open movement and low movement. With every blow of the hammer or turning and kneading, every time her woman-child brings a cookie to her mouth.

The sound of the water of the pool carries the ripples of the living body into the work, and vibrates the material. Sharon is a shamanic artist. She materializes spirit and breathes life into things, turning feminine spirit into a breath of air.

*The videos in the exhibition were made as part of the final project for the M.Des in multidisciplinary design at Shenkar, 2023, under the direction of Itzik Rennert and Nivi Lehavi (credit: Yasmin and Arye Photographers).